Readers' comments

criminal , corrupted regime that leads constant war with its own population. regime behaves like it would rule conquered territory. nobody who hasn't lived there, won't understand. ordinary Russians suffered under tzar's , soviets, regime only changes degree of its own predator-ism.

How strange, not one single Russian ultra-patriot, so vocal and aggressive on most other topics (e.g. see NATO and Russia), cared to comment on Russian police brutality against civic activists attempting to protect destruction of a valuable forest. It's just another piece of evidence to demonstrate how these Russian ultra- patriots are doing their best to manipulate western media and western public opinion.

this shows what medvedev himself is. having been humiliated personally by russian officials countless times, i dont understand the west's admiration of "pretty boy" medvedev. why putin is so popular is that (1) he and his comrades are the enforcers for the government officials and (2) for the vast security appartus that is too cowardly to refuse to abuses people (like the macho men police in the video), he kind of makes it cool to be one of them.

The violent conflict over the Khimki forest, the detention of a campaign activist Yevgenia Chirikova in Moscow, an act now documented by dozens of reporters, continues to be front-page topic in the Russian media except, of course, those serving the ruling class.

"Ten riot police officers grabbed me and dragged me away,” Chirikova was reported to have said after her questioning ended.
Meanwhile, Moscow region police released a "statement" claiming that Chirikova had to be brought in by force because she ignored numerous summons for questioning about a recent attack on Khimki City Hall.
She claims harassment insisting that she did not take part in the incident and was absent at the time.

Even assuming she ignored police summons that by itself doesn't justify having ten riot police dragging her away. It simply illustrates that Moscow (and not only Moscow) police needs fundamental retraining in the application of the law.

Meanwhile a Moscow court has autorised the arrest of two suspects in an attack last week on Khimki City Hall, despite reportedly shaky evidence against them. A group of some 100 suspected anarchists and activists pelted the City building with stones and wrote “Save the Russian Forest” on its walls.

Part of the Khimki forest is being cleared to make way for a modern highway connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg. Opponents of the project say the highway could be built around the forest and that a high level corruption is involved.

One needs to view the video clip (provided by the Economist) even if one doesn't understand Russian, for the photos are worth a hundred words. The author's term - the "Chechenisation" of Russia - will be questioned by some Russian ultra-patriots who, most likely, have been used to witnessing very similar police methods as described, - the dragging of the woman from the courtyard while blocking the journalists, followed by bundling her into an unmarked car and driving away. This was, of course, one of several standard Soviet practices in dealing with dissidents who risked being accused of 'anti-state' activities and sentenced to years in a Soviet penal camp. The major difference between then and now is the widespread availability of digital technology that allows instant recording of such events as they happen.

The Economist should have devoted more space to explaining the real issues in civic activists' fight against a government decision to cut down a forest in Moscow’s green belt in order to build a highway. Activists from a group known as the “Ecological Defense of the Moscow Region” (ECMO), as well as Greenpeace Russia, first clashed with construction workers when logging started in mid July. The situation has escalated to the point where some media dubbed the Khimki forest a “battlefield.”

The activists were menaced by anonymous masked men in white T-shirts, then very reluctantly defended by policemen while OMON riot police arrested six of the activists and a Radio Svoboda correspondent.

Radio Svoboda has since reported that it is now impossible to get to the site because the area is patrolled by both police and “unidentified men in masks” who have become a feature of the story.

One activist explained : “This is not so much about the forest, as about the fact that the forest is close to Moscow and stands on very valuable land” . As to exactly who stood to benefit from laying the new highway through the forest, he named two men: Moscow Region Governor Boris Gromov and Federal Transport Minister Igor Levitin. In other words, another case of first class corruption.